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Home office workers could be key to rural economic future

With the growth of the Internet, many workers can do their job just as efficiently sitting in front of computers in their home offices. Workers with disabilities or with taxing family responsibilities now can hold down jobs at home.

The only missing ingredient in many rural areas is reliable, high-speed access to the Internet.

The International Telework Association and Council (ITAC) estimates 28.8 million — one out of five Americans in the workforce - is engaged in some form of telecommuting.

Some rural small towns want to attract young adults who are seeking quiet, less-crowded, low-crime areas. High-speed Internet service is the key tool small towns' need to accommodate those new residents. At the same time, some communities have been establishing training courses that allow young rural residents to take advantage of the work-at-home trend rather than moving away.

What types of jobs do people do at home online? For examples go to Telecommuting Jobs (www.tjobs.com) for a list work-at-home jobs under 10 different categories, including Engineers, Sales, Data Entry, Web Designers and Desktop Publishers. Or go to one of the larger, well-publicized job search sites, such as Monster.com and enter the keyword "telecommuting." Source: The National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative www.nrtc.org.

We're still looking for "Youth to Washington" alumni

We've received many letters and e-mails from past "Youth to Washington" alumni. But we still want to hear from you if you've been on the Youth to Washington tour.

If you'd like to contact a "Youth to Washington" friend from the past, or add your name and contact information to our database, contact Linda Comstock at the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives at (217) 529-5561 or lcomstock@aiec.coop. Let us know what you remember about the trip, sponsoring co-op, the year you went and what you're doing now.

The friendships made on this special co-op sponsored trip sometimes last a lifetime. Many also describe the Youth to Washington experience as the trip of a lifetime.

Edie Stemberg, a member of Menard Electric Cooperative, Petersburg, says the trip made a real difference in her life. "The 'Youth to Washington' tour combined two things which have been important in my life: a focus on government service and the opportunity to travel," says Sternberg.

"I've spent my career as a public employee and retired last year from the Illinois Department of Public Health, but I continue to work part time for the University of Illinois School of Public Health, review grants for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and serve on the Menard County local Board of Health. I've traveled extensively and spent two years in Samoa as a Peace Corps volunteer. My husband and I own Starhill Forest Arboretum, a 48-acre arboretum with an extensive tree collection."

For more information on the "Youth to Washington" tour, contact your local electric cooperative or go to www.aiec.coop and click on Youth Programs.


In this 1961 "Youth to Washington" photo Edie Sternberg is second
from the left in the back row, partially obscured. Do you see anyone you know?

6 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING www.aiec.coop


Earth Day is every day with a geothermal heat pump

Earth Day last month reminded us to stop and look at the world around us and find better ways to protect the environment in which we live. Did you know there's a way you can help save the planet and save money, all while enjoying the ultimate in comfort?

The answer is right in your own back yard.

Homeowners who install geothermal systems help the environment and also save up to 60 percent on their monthly utility bills. Geothermal heating and cooling systems make every day Earth Day because geothermal heat pumps use the renewable energy available from the earth to provide heating in the winter and cooling in the summer, without burning any fossil fuel.

These systems operate simply by transferring energy via an earth loop connected to a geothermal unit inside the home. Geothermal is affordable, too. Because it uses only a small amount of electricity to power a compressor, blower and circulating pumps, it cuts the average home energy consumption by 25 to 60 percent. As a bonus, the system can use the excess heat removed from the compressor to generate free hot water for an overall annual savings of at least 30 percent in water-heating costs.

Geothermal systems also reduce the need for new power plants by reducing peak electricity demand in both heating and cooling seasons-by 3 kw to 4 kw for a typical home.

This remarkable performance has led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to recognize geothermal as the most energy-efficient, environmentally friendly and cost-effective method of heating and cooling available today. Installing a geothermal system in a typical home is the environmental equivalent of planting 750 trees, or saving three-quarters of an acre of rain forest.

Many of today's heat pumps, like WaterFurnace's Premier E Series, use the environmentally friendly R410-A refrigerant. This refrigerant is chlorine-free and does not deplete the earth's vital ozone layer.

For more information contact your local electric cooperative or go to www.geoexchange.org.

You can help prevent child abuse

Child Abuse Prevention Month has been observed each April since its first presidential proclamation in 1983. Last year, over 100,000 children in Illinois were reported abused or neglected, but through public awareness, community education, and support programs, these devastating numbers can be reduced.

Through a wide range of activities during April, Prevent Child Abuse Illinois and many community groups offer you an opportunity to join this movement. You can be among the Illinois citizens working to remind everyone about the importance of children in our lives, and how we can all be a part of preventing child abuse and neglect.

Educate yourself and others about child abuse and its prevention. Find out more by calling Prevent Child Abuse Illinois at (217) 522-1129 or going to www.preventchildabuseillinois.org.

APRIL 2003 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING 7


Planting for the future

By Dan Coffin

The planting of a tree is one of the most noble of human endeavors. It's really a shame that so many aspiring tree- planters mess it up from the very beginning. But what is there to know about planting a tree? You dig a hole and stick it in, right? Well, you might get away with that, if you're lucky.

It's just as easy to do it right as it is to mess it all up. Listen to what Bob did.

Saturday morning Bob woke up and decided to plant that tree in the side yard like he'd been planning to do for the past five years. He took $300 from his wife's purse and drove his pick-up to the garden center. An hour and a half later he came back with a beautiful B&B (that's balled and burlap-covered for us K-Mart shoppers) sugar maple and $3 in change.

Bob rolled the 350-pound purchase off the tailgate and it plopped to the ground, breaking many tender roots inside the root ball. He then stepped off 10 feet from the side of his house and started to dig.

I looked at Bob, then at the tree, then up at the gutter of the house, just 10 feet away. "You know Bob, sugar maples can get 60 feet tall with a 50 foot spread on them." He just grunted and swung the pick ax again, trying to break the heavy clay soil. Fortunately, the overhead power lines were in the back yard. I'm not sure if Bob actually considered that or not. It's always a bad idea to plant tall growing trees near power lines. One thing Bob did get right is that he had called his local utilities, including his local electric co-op. Seems the last time he dug a hole in his yard he cut his own cable TV line and missed the big playoff game.

An hour and a half later, Bob had his shirt off and a hole in the ground almost as wide as the root ball and half again as deep. "I think I got it ready, Dan. You wanna help?"

Help, I thought? Does he want me to get my chainsaw? The effect would be the same - one dead tree. "Sure Bob, what do you need?" I helped him roll the doomed specimen into its grave.

The proper planting height was actually about four inches under the burlap and soil of the root ball. That's where the "root flare" was (the place where the tree trunk spreads out into roots and needs to be level with the existing grade).

"You know Bob, we really ought to widen out that hole some so the roots have room to grow, and even shallow it up a bit while we're at it."

"Awww, I'm tired of digging Dan, it'll fit!" Bob then proceeded to stomp and then jump on the root ball, destroying even more of the tender roots.

"Are you gonna cut that green treated burlap and nylon string off the top of the ball, Bob?"

"Naw, they put that stuff on there for a reason Dan, I think it needs it on there to hold it all together or something."

"Ok, Bob." I looked at Bob, then at the shovel, then at Bob's big butt in the air as he used his hands to push the chunks of clay around the tree. No, I didn't whack him with the shovel, but the thought crossed my mind.

Bob then pushed all the clay soil over the root ball so the roots would never again taste oxygen. He added some grass seed just to make sure any nutrients in the soil would be absorbed by it before reaching the tree roots.

Yet Bob still wasn't done. Visions of medieval torture devices came to my mind as he pounded wooden stakes into the ground, then wrapped wire from the stakes through cut up garden hose around the tree's lower branches. Making sure the tree didn't get away I guessed. This actually ensured that if there were any miracle of growth here, it would be choked off by the strangling wire. "I'll water it tomorrow," he said.

So, after five hours, and $300 dollars, Bob had managed to kill a perfectly fine tree. Can we learn from Bob? You bet we can, he did it all wrong! What are the lessons?

1. Select the right tree for the right spot, look overhead and underground for power lines and other utilities.

2. Buy a tree with sound structure, and handle it carefully.

3. Don't put a $300 tree in a $3 hole. The wider the better.

4. Planting depth is crucial. Too deep, it drowns and suffocates; too shallow, it dries up.

5. Remove as much "packing material" as you can, twine and treated fabrics can choke a plant to death.

6. Don't stake trees unless it's windy, and even then use only one stake to the windward side and remove it the following year.

7. Mulch! It's a wonder drug for trees, and all your plantings. Use it.

Dan Coffin is a certified Arborist and operates Heartwood Tree & Landscape Solutions in Mahomet. Contact him at (217) 489-3217 or bmchmgr@farmwagon. com.

Arbor Day is April 25th

Since 1887, Arbor Day has been celebrated in Illinois as a time to encourage tree planting and good tree care. Plant a tree this year to provide shade, shelter, fruit, fuel and beauty for future generations. For more information about Arbor Day, visit www.arborday.org.

8 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING www.aiec.coop


Spongy Fungi Festival

By Shawn Wilcockson

On Saturday, May 3, hundreds of mushroom hunters from Illinois, neighboring states, and as far away as Canada will gather in Magnolia, Illinois for the Eighth Annual Illinois State Morel Mushroom Hunting Championship. Magnolia is a quiet little village of 261 residents nestled in Putnam County, just northeast of Peoria, at the crossroads of state highways 18 and 89.

The two-day event begins with The Spongy Fungi Festival on Friday, May 2 where the Village of Magnolia and Morel Mania welcome the public. The informal gathering, hosted by Magnolia Legion Post 254 will take place at the Magnolia Fire Station beginning at 7:00 p.m. The festival will include a feature speaker - Larry Lonik, an author of three books about morels and successful grower of indoor morels. Attendees will also get to sample morel soup while it lasts and participate in events such as the Mushroom Liars Contest. This year's Spongy Fungi Festival will even host a 5k run.

Before dawn on Saturday, May 3, participants will gather for the Annual Illinois State Morel Mushroom Hunting Championship. Men and women, old and young, families, and folks from all walks of life will come together with the common interest in morel mushrooms and a sense of adventure.

The adventure seekers will join together for a hot breakfast, a last minute review of the "rules of the hunt" and will then be whisked by bus to a secret location. The contest begins with an ambulance siren that scatters contestants in all directions. The hunters have two hours to gather as many morel mushrooms as they can and the person who gathers the most will become the Grand Champion Illinois State Morel Mushroom Hunter. Gale Cole of Palmyra, won with 110 morel mushrooms in 2001 and last years' winner Randy Dedecker harvested 117 morel mushrooms. John Husar of the Chicago Tribune described the day perfectly when he said, "This is the 33rd different type of sporting event I've covered in 30 years. For all the reputation mushroom hunters have for being deceitful and devious, this was the most congenial crowd I've ever seen. This wasn't a competition — this was a celebration!"

The celebration will continue on through the day and into the evening with children's activities such as a petting zoo, cooking demonstrations, craft shows, music by Rich Selquist and ongoing mushroom discussions. This year's contest and festival will also be the subject of a feature-length documentary film by two students from Purdue University.

The 2003 contest will be limited to 516 competitors. Applications will be available on a first come basis. Last year's event produced 697 entrants and was the largest gathering of mushroom hunters anywhere. Morel Mania contacted the Guiness Book of world records, but unfortunately they don't monitor mushroom hunting contests. For more information about the Eighth Annual Illinois State Morel Mushroom Hunting Championship, contact organizers Tom and Vicky Nauman, R.R. 1, Box 42, Magnolia, IL 61336, or call (309) 364-3319, fax (309) 364-2960, e-mail morel@ocslink.com.

APRIL 2003 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING 9


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